UK ‘ready to go’ on implementing US trade deal, says Business Secretary

The UK is “ready to go” on implementing its trade deal with the US, the Business Secretary has said.

The deal, announced last month by Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump, will see British tariffs on steel and automotive exports to the US slashed in exchange for greater access to the UK for some American goods.

But the deal has still not been implemented, with both Washington and London yet to take the necessary steps to reduce tariffs.

Hold-ups

Speaking at a lunch for Westminster journalists on Thursday, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the UK was ready to implement the deal, suggesting the White House was responsible for the hold-up.

He said: “We are ready to go on our side.

“In terms of the steps I need to take, I will inform the House with a written ministerial statement and lay the statutory instruments for the reciprocal part of that deal, which is obviously about beef and ethanol for us on this side.

“So we’re ready to go, and as soon as the president and the White House on their side are able to, we will implement that part of the deal.”

The Business Secretary added he was “very hopeful” that the agreement would come into effect “very soon”, but acknowledged negotiations had not “always been easy”.

Mr Reynolds’s comments follow his meeting with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday to discuss implementing the deal.

Tariffs reductions

The meeting, which the Prime Minister also dropped in on, was the latest in a series of engagements aimed at securing a reduction in the tariffs Mr Trump imposed on the UK and the rest of the world on April 2.

Along with 10% tariffs on all British goods, the president imposed 25% levies on cars and steel. He later increased the tariff on steel to 50%, but gave the UK a reprieve, keeping Britain’s rate at 25% until at least July 9.

Under the broad terms of last month’s agreement, the US will implement quotas that will effectively eliminate the tariff on British steel and reduce the tariff on UK vehicles to 10%.

Asked if the White House was responsible for holding up the deal, a No 10 spokesman said: “I wouldn’t accept that.

“The economic prosperity deal we agreed with the US, we were the first country to sign a deal of that type. And as I say, you’ve seen free trade deals with the US, EU and India.”